Removing silt a mammoth task for Mand area farmers

Flood watch: The Tribune revisits ground zero a year after

Gurbaxpuri

Tarn Taran, July 18

Farmers affected by the last year’s floods in the Mand area are still struggling to remove the silt brought by the gushing Sutlej and Beas.

Narinder Singh and Karamit Singh of Mondapind village said the government failed to come to their rescue.

“We have been working to remove silt from our fields for more than nine months, but just 30 per cent work had been done so far. Crop on around 2,000 acres got destroyed due to the floods. Of these, wheat was sown only on 300 acres last season,” said Jaswant Singh of the same village.

In Muthianwala village, the gushing water created deep pits. Baldev Singh said 25 ft deep pit had developed in his field, thus making it difficult for him to irrigate the land.

Tarn Taran Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Kumar said the affected farmers had been given a compensation of Rs 21.60 crore for crop damage on 31,766 acres.